ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The epic swoon of Atlantic City continued Tuesday as Trump Plaza was put out of its stained-carpet, squeaky-revolving-door, no-room-service-center-of-the-Boardwalk misery as its dedicated hospice workers dealt a final hand of blackjack. "Sit down and play a hand, you won't get another chance," said Shelly Orloff, an IBM Mainframe system programmer from Bergen County, around 3 a.m. Gambling operations were stopped at 5:59 a.m., the official end of the gaming day by state regulation.

Whatever Hue Q. To was doing to annoy casino patrons in Trump Plaza the night of Sept. 8 - hustling for change, pickpocketing - it was only after casino security stepped in that the real trouble began. Within about 45 minutes, the 25-year-old native of Vietnam was dead, slammed so violently against the wall of a casino back room that the damage to his neck stopped his breathing, according to the county prosecutor and medical examiner. That explanation came later. In the days after To's death, Trump Plaza officials gave this statement, apparently relying on statements from the five security guards who were present when To died: To "stumbled into the arm of a chair.

When Buster Douglas returns from Tokyo, chances are he will not have to check his senses at customs. They probably will have been separated from him by that pugilistic mugger, Mike Tyson. The undisputed heavyweight champion, returning to the scene of his two- round demolition of Tony Tubbs two years ago, will meet Douglas on Saturday night in Tokyo. While Douglas should become Tyson victim No. 38, at least one group hopes for a competitive fight - the officials at Trump Plaza, which will host the match between Tyson and Evander Holyfield on June 18 in Atlantic City.

The two push-button house phones outside the main entrance of the vacant Trump Plaza hotel in Atlantic City remain. A sign outlining access rules concludes with "Trespassers will be prosecuted. " They may as well also take down the "Valet Only" sign. Nobody's allowed in the driveway. There's a big fight next door at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday, Bernard Hopkins against Sergey Kovalev for the light-heavyweight title. There will be a strong crowd. It just won't be quite like the old days, certainly not next door.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement gave online gambling company Betfair Interactive US L.L.C. permission to intervene in writing in proceedings on the closing of Trump Plaza on Sept. 16. Betfair, which is based in London, England, is Trump Plaza's online gaming partner and will be able to continue operating until the Trump Plaza license is revoked, but may need to find a new bricks-and-mortar casino partner to keep operating in New Jersey thereafter. Betfair's attorney said in an Aug. 25 letter to regulators that Trump officials have not responded to any requests for information about the closing.

ONCE UPON a time, Trump Plaza was a jewel in the crown of the East Coast's gambling monopoly. In the late 1980s, the midtown gaming hall was, for lack of a better description, the Borgata of its day. Such was its prestige that cartoonist Garry Trudeau chose it as the location for a series of "Doonesbury" cartoons that imagined a comeback concert by an in-hiding-for-a-decade Elvis Presley. It was also the casino that sponsored Mike Tyson's championship boxing matches at what was then Convention Hall.

The Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino expects to become the third of Donald Trump's three casinos to file a bankruptcy plan, officials said yesterday. Trump attorney Joseph Fusco told the Casino Control Commission that the casino intends to file a prepackaged bankruptcy - one that has won approval beforehand from creditors and is designed to speed the trip through bankruptcy court. Under the offer, bondholders would exchange $225 million in bonds paying 12 7/8 percent and an additional $25 million in long-term debt for $200 million in bonds paying 12 percent and $100 million in preferred stock with an annual dividend of 10 percent.

Officials declined comment Monday on a report that there were no qualified bidders to buy the Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Revel's board of directors was reportedly meeting Monday, in advance of a bankruptcy auction that has been delayed until Thursday. Revel is in bankruptcy court for the second time in little more than a year. Executives say the $2.4 billion casino will close and shed its 3,200 employees if a buyer cannot be found. A report Monday by NBC10 said no acceptable bids had been received, citing an unidentified source.

ATLANTIC CITY - Vera Coking famously refused to sell to Donald Trump. But in the end, she sold to Carl Icahn. Property records in Atlantic County show that Coking's famous but now-vacant white house, in the shadow of the famous but now-shuttered Trump Plaza, is now owned by IEH Enterprises - Icahn. The house at 127 S. Columbia Place was sold at auction in August for $583,000. At the time, Atlantic City lawyer Pat Agnellini said he was the bidder on site - and on the phone - who walked away with the winning bid. Agnellini declined to say at the time whom he represented other than himself, or what the plans were for the property.

There's music in the air on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, where Lenny Johnson and Vera Topinka are sharing an impromptu dance outside Bally's Wild West. "The world's a mess," Lenny, who's 82, explains. "But here in Atlantic City," adds Vera, 77, "it's a lovely day. " Vera, a retired keypunch operator from Toms River, is right: The summer is young, the sea breeze is bracing, and the sun plays across the fanciful facades of Boardwalk landmarks. Even the saw-toothed slab of the extinct Trump Plaza is aglow.

Trump Taj Mahal casino's parent company is seeking to block Stockton University's creation of an Atlantic City campus next door to the Taj Mahal because it doesn't want to contend with underage college students trying to gamble, the company said Wednesday. Stockton's president says he still hopes to see the Showboat Casino property turned into a branch campus for thousands of students. Trump Entertainment Resorts "does not think having a college next door to the Taj is good for our company," it said in a statement.

ATLANTIC CITY - The winter here is traditionally brutal for resort business, but a glut of vehicles to transport patrons that once filled the casinos has created a new class of beleaguered taxicab drivers. Nadir Khan, 57, is ready to throw in the towel after four years. "I can't make a living," Khan said as he sat in his taxi outside the Trump Taj Mahal last week. From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Khan had two fares totaling $29. The lease on his cab was recently dropped from $275 to $170 a week because business has been so off. Still, Khan - who has three children and a stay-at-home wife to support - can't cover the lower fee, much less his daily gas. "I bring my dreams to America, but now I don't know where to go," said the Pakistani native who arrived in Atlantic City in 1986 - eight years after the first casino, Resorts, opened on the Boardwalk.

ATLANTIC CITY - It wasn't long ago that the ovens at Formica Bros. Bakery were going full blast - putting out 50,000 pieces of bread a day. As recently as 2007, the nearly century-old establishment in the city's Ducktown section employed 70 people. Owner Frank Formica recalls how orders from casinos were like yeast to his dough, lifting his bakery's bottom line ever higher. Then, pummeled by out-of-state competitors, the casinos began to fall into a swoon, and this year, as four of them closed, Formica lost a big chunk of his business "in the blink of an eye. " He is down to 35,000 to 40,000 pieces a day, employs 40, and is sending his trucks ever farther to find new customers.

ATLANTIC CITY - A city tax lien sale brought faltering Atlantic City some pre-Christmas cheer Thursday - a $22 million tax bill from bankrupt Trump Plaza and Taj Mahal will be paid - but also some coal: Nobody bid on a $32.5 million unpaid tax bill from Revel. "I'm concerned," said the city's revenue director, Michael Stinson, after the four-hour sale, with a total of nearly $59 million in owed taxes on 1,000 properties, yielded at most half of that. Stinson said the tax sale plus an imminent $40 million note sale should be enough to get the city over the immediate 2014 budgetary crisis.

The Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City is likely to remain open until Dec. 20, as its parent company continues to negotiate for financial aid from the city or the State of New Jersey, the bankrupt Trump Entertainment Resorts said Friday. However, some employees already started working fewer hours this week, Kathleen McSweeney, senior vice president of market operations for Trump Entertainment, said in a statement. The Taj Mahal closed one of its hotel towers Monday, and at that point still planned to close the casino next Friday, according to a Nov. 26 petition on its closing plans filed with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

Investor Carl Icahn has agreed to lend Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. up to $5 million to help the owner of Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City pay its bankruptcy expenses into January. The move, described in a bankruptcy court filing Wednesday, could indicate that a deal is near to keep the Taj Mahal open. Trump has said it will close the casino Dec. 12 if its biggest union doesn't drop an appeal of an October bankruptcy ruling that stripped workers of company-sponsored health insurance.

ATLANTIC CITY - Vera Coking famously refused to sell to Donald Trump. But in the end, she sold to Carl Icahn. Property records in Atlantic County show that Coking's famous but now-vacant white house, in the shadow of the famous but now-shuttered Trump Plaza, is now owned by IEH Enterprises - Icahn. The house at 127 S. Columbia Place was sold at auction in August for $583,000. At the time, Atlantic City lawyer Pat Agnellini said he was the bidder on site - and on the phone - who walked away with the winning bid. Agnellini declined to say at the time whom he represented other than himself, or what the plans were for the property.

The two push-button house phones outside the main entrance of the vacant Trump Plaza hotel in Atlantic City remain. A sign outlining access rules concludes with "Trespassers will be prosecuted. " They may as well also take down the "Valet Only" sign. Nobody's allowed in the driveway. There's a big fight next door at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday, Bernard Hopkins against Sergey Kovalev for the light-heavyweight title. There will be a strong crowd. It just won't be quite like the old days, certainly not next door.

Ahead of a key court hearing Wednesday in Wilmington, Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. filed a revised bankruptcy plan showing that Carl Icahn - who is owed $292 million by Trump - could recover between 38 percent and 65 percent of his claim. Those percentages are based on estimated values of Trump Entertainment's two properties - the Trump Taj Mahal and the former Trump Plaza, which closed Sept. 16. The values range from $110 million, if the Taj Mahal is closed, to $190 million if the Taj Mahal remains open, the filing said.